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PROGRESS 


IN 


CIVIL SERVICE ADMINISTRATION 


JOHN A.'HAZELWOOD 
Secretary and Chief Examiner 
Wisconsin Civil Service Commission 


Issued by The 

Wisconsin Civil Service Commission 
1921 


CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSIONERS 


Lewis G. resident 

B. J. Castle 

C. AMERON Fraser 

John A. TIazelwood, fleeretary and, 
Chief Examiner 


LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
Rcc&iveo 

JAN191921 

OOCUMCNTK DIVISION 











PROGRESS IN CIVIL SERVICE ADMINISTRATION 


Efficiency in governmental activities rests largely today upon the 
work performed by civil service commissions. The establishment 
of sound civil service principles has been a history of difficult 
tasks and bitter struggles, but the advocates of efficiency in pub¬ 
lic service have worked on in spite of the opposition of the sel¬ 
fish and unscrupulous of all political parties. Civil service laws 
and ordinances have been passed and have finally won permanent 
places wherever good government prevails. 

Representatives of civil service are interested in making the 
movement of the greatest possible help in the efficient manage¬ 
ment of public business. Such an effort will have not only 
the effect of increasing the efficiency of the various government 
activities but will also do much to spread the movement to other 
states, counties, and municipal governments. In other words, 
when the country at_, large sees that civil service commissions con¬ 
stitute a real and 'vital force in the - improvement of public effi¬ 
ciency, then and (inly then will the principles upon which our 
work is founded be sought for and generally adopted. 



Comparison With iPrivate Industry 

In many respects the administration of the civil service leads 
that of private service. Civil service examinations are to a large 
extent far ahead in their effectiveness of the method of selection, 
employed by private industrial concerns throughout the country. 
We must, however, admit that private industry is striding far 
ahead of civil service commissions in the matter of increasing 
and maintaining a high degree of business efficiency. 

It is not necessary to detail the work being done by industrial 
concerns in providing training for those employes. The instances 
of training employes are numerous. Corporation schools very 
materially increase the efficiency of the organizations with which 
they are connected. It is along these lines that civil service 
has failed to keep abreast of the times. It is development in 
this direction, together with certain changes in our examination 



— 4 — 

system which promise in the near future to a more rapid and 
widespread establishment of the underlying principles of civil 
service. 

Civil service commissions must realize that the time has come 
when their work is more than that of simply acting as employ¬ 
ment agencies. We hear criticisms of the administration of 
civil service to the effect that the commissions are interested only ^ 

in conducting academic examinations and then lose interest en- i 

tirely in developing efficiency in those certified to the various 
departments. ^ 

Functions of the Civil iService Commission - 

Wisconsin established civil service on a broad and practical 
basis. After a trial of fifteen years in the state, we find offi¬ 
cials, having appointments to make, in favor of retaining and 
extending civil service. Our commission' takes the view that it 
has at least three important functions to perform, namely: 

1. Examining candidates for state service. 

2. Encouraging the proper training of those intending to 

enter public service and helping those in public service ■[ 

in increasing their efficiency and value to the service. > 

3. Furnishing information to the public on the activities of I 

the commission, or, in other words, stimulating and ’ 

arousing public opinion and sentiment in support of 
our policy summed up in our motto: “The Best Shall 
Serve the State.'' 

We believe that if civil service commissions gave more attention 

to eliminating the academic from examinations, making them 

just as practical as possible, and then more actively and con- ^ 

cretely showing interest in the work of employes in the service, 

many more friends would be won for the movement which we ^ 

represent. 

The Use of Practical Methods J 

One reason why civil service commissions are criticised and 
condemned, especially by the practical man, is because they have 
employed the schoolboy and assembled competitive examinations 
indiscriminately in obtaining eligible lists for all types of em- 

• . 

ployments. Gradually we are getting away from the idea that ’J 

we need to treat applicants for important positions in public 
service as pupils in our schools. 

In the minds of many leading merit principle men, there are ^ 

no positions in public service, that cannot^ better be filled, as a ^ 

general rule, by competitive examinations. The examination 3 

should be such, however, as tol invite the best qualified men avail- 
able. Many believe that persons may be examined and consid¬ 
ered for positions in civil service without such persons having 


made formal application, or in fact, without even knowing that 
their records and qualifications are being examined. Such is the 
policy employed by regents of universities and by trustees of col¬ 
leges in building up their faculties. 

A friend might make the application for the person thought to 
be well qualified for the service in question and the civil ser¬ 
vice commission could easily look into the person’s qualifications 
and fitness for the position, put him on the eligible list, certify 
him to the appointing authority and then give notice to the man 
that ,he had been examined and was under consideration for ap¬ 
pointment. The Wisconsin Civil Service Commission believes 
that this method is both feasible and practical in filling certain 
positions. 


Increasing Efficiency in State IService 

The Wisconsin Civil Service Commission has given much atten¬ 
tion to the matter . of training for public service. Private in¬ 
dustries are more and more learning that it pays to educate 
and promote employes within their service. One reason why 
public service has not been inviting to the best is that hope 
and ambition which exist normally in all people, have not been 
stimulated. It is not enough to obtain men as servants of the 
public and then forget them and fill higher positions from out¬ 
side the public service instead of promoting those already en¬ 
gaged in the service. Training for public service demands that 
civil service commissions be ever vigilant in helping: to improve 
and to promote. Failure in carrying out this |unction -of the 
civil service causes many good prospects to become discouraged 
and leave the public service for private service. 

Education in Public Service 

In carrying on training in public service there are three pos¬ 
sibilities open to every civil service commission: 

1. Securing the aid of educational institutions for personal 

instruction. 

2. Making, use of experts in the service for personal instruc¬ 

tion. ’ 

3. Recommending correspondence courses for employes. 

Wisconsin has utilized all of these means. We are fortunate in 
having the state university with its well organized extension 
division located where we have the largest' number of state em¬ 
ployes. Although our cooperation with the University Exten¬ 
sion has been the most extensive, we believe that similar plans 
may be worked out with any local educational institution such 
as with high schools, continuation schools, normal schools, pri¬ 
vate schools, and colleges. 



Courses Offered to State Employes 

The commission, with the cooperation of the university through 
its extension division, will offer to state employes the coming year 
a number of exceptionally profitable courses, several of which 
have been organized especially for the educational program car¬ 
ried on by this commission. Pour classroom courses will be 
offered to employes of the capitol,—Effective Letter Writing, 
Piling and Indexing, Elementary Statistics, and Office Organiza¬ 
tion. These courses are built up on the actual needs of the 
various state departments, material actually gathered from the 
departments will be used as the basis for the classroom dis¬ 
cussions. 

i 

The coming year a new group of courses are to be offered to 
the employes of the state institutions, especially arranged for 
matrons and teachers. The instructor in charge of these special 
courses of training will visit the institutions throughout the 
year, conferring with those who take the courses, and giving’ 
short talks to employes with the idea of stimulating greater in¬ 
terest among such employes in the work in which they are engaged. 
The courses which are to be offered along these lines are as 
follows: Child Nature and Training, Principles of Elementary 

'Education, Training of Boys and Girls, Planning the Dietary, 
Health Course, Study of Pabrics, and Purnishings and Decora¬ 
tions. 

Other Courses Offered 

It is the purpose of the Wisconsin Civil Service Commission to 
keep in close touch with the progress made by all employes in 
the state service, and to encourage the continuation of study 
suited to the development of the particular employes concerned. 

The following courses have been selected because of their 
special bearing on the work of various groups of state employes. 
In all cases it will not be possible to offer this work to regularly 
organized classes. In cases where it is not, employes are urged 
to take the study through correspondence. 

Practical Hand Firing 
Heat 

Refrigeration 
Rural Highway Work 
American Executives and Ex 
ecutive Methods 
Criminology and Penology 
Steam Boilers . 

Besides offering the regular courses above listed, the commis¬ 
sion is on the lookout for opportunity to be of service to groups 
of employes in every way possible. As demand and need occurs. 


Steam Engines 
Heating and Ventilation 
American Government and 
Politics 

Practical Sociology 
Free Hand Lettering 
Public Speaking 


special classes of employes are brouglit together for instruction 
along various lines. Under this provision, the commission has 
offered courses of training to janitors, service employes, and has 
conducted classes in practical dictation for stenographers to as¬ 
sist those already in the service in increasing their speed pre¬ 
paratory to accepting positions of a higher grade requiring ability 
to take dictation at a more rapid rate. 


Gkoup School Idea 

The so-called group school idea has been developed (in Wiscon¬ 
sin to perhaps a greater extent than in other states and the 
civil service commission has done all within its power to promote 
the idea. These schools are now held annually for power plant 
engineers, highway engineers, supervisors and patrolmen, income 
tax assessors, health officers, • dairy and food inspectors and 
others. The idea back of this movement has been that of stimu¬ 
lation and the putting over of helpful ideas, methods of work, 
etc. These schools for the state employes have proved of marked 
value. Not only have the men gone back to their work again, 
after attending the schools, with greater intelligence and skill, 
but there has been created a most splendid esprit de corps and 
a feeling of closer relationship with the civil service commission 
and the heads of the departments. 

Two years ago one of the courses arranged by this commission 
far state employes was that in public speaking conducted by a 
university professor. This course held in the capitol was 
arranged in order to give state employes who have occasion to 
address audiences on the work of their departments an opportunity 
to improve themselves along this line. * The course was 'made 
just as practical as possible, a large number of the class being 
given a chance to take an active part at each meeting. The course 
was held during the session of the legislature and it is interest¬ 
ing to note that a considerable number of legislators joined the 
class and took an active part in its work, apparently thoroughly 
appreciating the privilege offered, enjoying the work and feeling 
that it was very much worth while. 

Working iFEllows 

The Wisconsin Civil Service Commission has an arrangement 
with the University whereby ;graduate students of the right type 
may secure a half-time employment in the departments of the 
capitol, working on special problems assigned to them' and re¬ 
ceiving a fixed compensation for their work. They are given credit 
by the University toward graduation for the work they do. This 
furnishes a real opportunity for getting in touch with high grade 


— 8 -- 


prospective government employes and for stimulating the idea 
of definite training for public service.. 

The same idea has also been carried out for several years in 
connection with students in the commercial departments of the 
high school and city, continuation schools. Students whom the 
heads of the department could recommend have been assigned by 
this commission to different departments for periods of two 
weeks, putting in half days. They give their services as typists 
and stenographers in return for the knowledge this work gives- 
them of actual office procedure. A very large number of stu¬ 
dents have taken advantage of this arrangement. It also serves 
to furnish the civil service commission with more definite and 
reliable information bearing on the efficiency 'of these young peo¬ 
ple and their fitness for state service. 

t 

Organization of Employes 

The public should be as near an ideal employer as conditions 
will permit, that is, it should provide the employe with proper 
working conditions, reasonable working hours, adequate salaries 
and dependable opportunity of promotion. Governments are prob¬ 
ably further from being model employers today insofar as 
salary conditions are concerned than ever before, due mainly to 
the rapid increase in the cost of living and lack of flexibility of 
governments in making changes in service expenditures. The 
plain fact is that states and municipalities left to. themselves have 
little inclination to alter for the better many conditions under 
which civil employes work. 

In many respects the civil service commissions can furnish to 
employes what trade unions are expected to furnish for their 
members, that is, help in the securing of rights, encouragement 
in self direction and the obtaining of adequate chances for promo¬ 
tion and increases in salaries, things which contribute very 
largely to the development and maintenance of a proper attitude 
toward work on the part of employes. 

We know that employing authorities in public service are sub¬ 
ject to the same weakness that are employing authorities in in¬ 
dustrial concerns. Many heads of departments lack knowledge 
of what are proper working conditions for employes and what 
proper salaries should be. Many department heads who have the 
knowledge lack the vision, and what is still more lamentable, 
many who have the knowledge and the vision fail to possess the 
courage to put across the proper programs for employment. Here 
then is a field in which the civil service commissions with sufficient 
backbone may function in improving to a very material degree 
the conditions under which employes work. 


Essay Contest 


The commission continues from year to year the essay con¬ 
test for pupils of the state high schools. This contest is popular 
among the high school students of the state, and has a beneficial 
effect in increasing interest and discussion of the problems ot 
civil service administration. The Federated Women’s Clubs of 
the state have during the past biennial period taken an active 
interest in this contest, and through their efforts local organi¬ 
zations have assisted materially in stimulating competition in their 
local high schools. First place was won this year by the Reeds- 
burg High School. The secretary of the commission attended 
the graduation exercises, at which time the cup was presented 
in behalf of the Civil Service Commission and the State Civil 
Service League to Mr. Aloysius Thiemann, whose essay brought 
the honor to the Reedsburg High School. 

The Wisconsin Civil Service Commission thoroughly believes 
that it is impossible for it to fulfill its functions as an employ¬ 
ment and personnel agency in the state government without keep¬ 
ing in very close touch with the needs of the service. To this 
end, the commission has adopted the policy of making frequent 
visits to the institutions and departments of the state. During 
the past two years a number of the commission’s meetings have 
been held at the various state institutions. At these times the 
commission has gone over carefully with the head of the institu¬ 
tion his particular needs, the service rendered by employes certi¬ 
fied from the civil service lists, together with suggestions for the 
possible improvement of the service through a more intelligent 
selection and training of its personnel. 

The Service Examiner, who has charge of the records of all 
employes within the service and of the educational work con¬ 
ducted by the commission, keeps in close touch with the various 
state and university departments, together with the institutions. 
Frequent visits and talks with department heads and employes 
help to keep the commission in sensitive touch with the general 
tone of the personnel, the needs of the departments, and the many 
helpful suggestions which come from the appointing officers of 
the service. 

The commission considers itself as an agency of cooperation, 
an agency with the same interest in public service efficiency as 
the heads of the departments and institutions comprising the 
state government. It considers that it should proceed with a 
sympathetic understanding of the needs and plans for growth of 
the departments, assisting in every way possible to bring about 
the highest degree of efficiency so far as quality and effectiveness 
of personnel are concerned. 


— 10 — 


AXNXAL ESSAY CONTEST 


The following schools have been represented in the contest dur¬ 
ing the past four years: 


Algoma 

Almond 

Altoona 

Arena 

Athens 

Barron 

BeaTer Dam 

Bloomington 

Butternut 

Cambridge 

Cashton 

Cassville 

Chilton 

Chippewa Falls 

Cleveland 

Clintonville 

Coleman 

Crandon 

Dodgeville 

Eden 

Edgerton 

Elmwood 

Fall Creek 

Fond du Lac 

Fox Lake 

Galesville 

Genoa Junction 

Gilman 

Glenbeulah 

Green Lake 

Hayward 

Horicon 

lola 

Jefferson 

Kenosha 

Kewaunee 


THE TROPHY CUP 
has been 

won by the following schools: 

1918— Wauwatosa High School 

1919— Monroe High School 
192 0—Reedsburg High School 


Kiel 

La Crosse 

Ladysmith 

Lake Mills 

Laona 

Leon 

Linden 

Loyal 

Madison 

Manitowoc 

Mattoon 

Marinette 

Marshfield 

Menomonie 

Menomonee Falls 

Mellen 

Menasha 

Middleton 

Milwaukee, N, Div. 

Milwaukee, S. Div. 

Milwaukee, W. Div. 

Milwaukee, Wash. 

Mondovi 

Montfort 

Mt. Horeb 

Mountain 

Neenah 

Xeillsville 


North Freedom 

Oconomowoc 

Oconto 

Onalaska 

Oshkosh 

Pardeeville 

Park Falls 

Peshtigo 

Plainfield 

Prairie du Chien 

Prescott 

Princeton 

Random Lake 

Reedsburg 

Rib Lake 

Richland Center 

Rock Elm 

Rosendale 

Sauk City 

Shawano 

Sheboygan 

Shell Lake 

'^^pooner 

Stevens Point 

Stockbridge 

Tomah 

Two Rivers 

Turtle Lake 

Waterford 

Watertown 

Waupaca 

Wauwatosa 

Whitewater 

Wild Rose 

Williams Bay 

Winneconne 


The Civil Service Commission furnishes to each school entered, 
material to be consulted by contestants. 


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